Sacrifice
by PagetPaulson
Summary: The last piece to the puzzle. She was the final victim he needed to finish his masterpiece.
1. Chapter 1

She couldn't brace herself before another bucket of freezing water before it came crashing down over her, plastering her hair to her face and neck. It had her bra and panties sticking to her skin and goosebumps popping up on her reddening skin. She couldn't have imagined anything so cold in her life.

Looking up the brown eyed woman let out a shocked gasp as the cold seeped through her skin and into her muscles. She could even see her breath before her.

The air around her began to grow thin as she used all her energy to slam her hands against the glass. "No! I know it!" she begged. "Please! I know it."

Another bucket.

"Stop!" Emily let go of the chain that kept her shackled to the bottom of the vessel she had been locked inside, feeling it begin to freeze against her skin.

"Next question."

The FBI agent rammed the palms of her hands into the glass of the plexiglass cell he had created. "You think you can get away with this?" she spit out, slamming her hands down once more before covering her head as another bucket of water splashed over her. Her body wracked with tremors as the water waded just below her knees.

She knew it was in her best interest not to panic and keep her heart rate as normal as possible, but the water continued to rise.

"Is this what you did to Ashley Carter?" she asked, looking up to the speakers that surrounded her. "Catherine Baldwin? Anthony Delagarza? Did you torture them all the same way?"

"I'm the one who asks the questions."

Her leg jerked as the chain tightened, forcing her knee to bend. Closer to the ground, the water now sloshed above her knees.

She looked up when a crackle from the loudspeaker echoed around the room.

"Are you ready for your next question?"

Emily bit down hard on her bottom lip. She had been in worse situations before: held by crazier unsubs, held for longer amounts of time and even in worse physical condition. She almost died only a year ago from a table leg, for Christ's sake. But this was the first time she had been taken and tortured with water- the freezing cold water taken from the bay playing with her body temperature. She could control her emotions and compartmentalize everything she needed to, but the way her body reacted to the water couldn't be controlled.

Taking a deep breath the brunette glared at the two-way mirror where she knew he had been watching her. "You won't get the fulfillment out of watching me die of hypothermia," she stated quickly, feeling her leg muscles start to spasm. "I'll freeze in here before you get what you want."

Silence.

Remaining calm as the water continued to blue the skin of her feet Emily stared at the mirror. "You get off by watching me slowly slip under the water," she spit out, knowing by the silence in the room that she was getting to him. "You want me to drown: to take my final breath under the water and have it fill my lungs. That's what you like."

She tugged at the chain that hooked her to the floor of the chamber. "This isn't going to give you any satisfaction."

Emily heard the familiar crackle of the speaker before his voice came through.

"You know nothing."

The brunette stepped closer to the glass wall that trapped her, hearing the water she stood in sloshing as she moved. She could hear the tension in his words. "The others you trapped in here gave you what you wanted quickly, but I'm not like them. I've already been in here longer than any of them." Feeling her teeth begin to chatter she did her best to keep her mouth from opening too wide as she spoke. "The chamber was filled with water in the fifth minute or so, wasn't it? They didn't know how to answer your questions. But I do."

When she didn't receive a response she put slammed her hand against the glass. "I'll be dead in thirty if you keep going. You won't get to see me drown and you'll be left unsatisfied. It won't matter that I've died because you'll get nothing out of it."

"You know nothing."

Shivering, she prepared herself for another dousing. "I'm supposed to be the last piece to your puzzle, aren't I?" she asked, her eyes on the mirror with her arms above her head to block the impact she knew was coming. Emily could hear the water filling the bucket above her. "Without me, all you've done to get to this point will be for nothing."

When the crackle came over the loudspeaker again, the agent rushed her words to beat him. "And you can't just throw me away," she challenged. "You'll have to start all over. Four new victims. It took you almost a year to get the first two, didn't it? You're going to take all that time to retrace your steps? Really?"

Taking her arms from above her head for just a second, Emily rubbed her hands down them warmth. She couldn't hold back her shivers now. She was sure he could see her trembles now, but no voice came over the loudspeaker.

Before she could react another bucket of water fell into the chamber. Instead of the freezing water sending pricks up her skin, it was boiling hot. Emily couldn't hold back the scream that broke free from her throat.

She dropped to her knees and cupped the water around her in the palms of her hands, bringing it to the burns she could already feel forming on the crown of her head.

"You know nothing!" the voice bellowed over Emily's whimpers.

She could feel the tears pricking her eyes as she heard the water filling the bucket. Adding the hot water would keep her from freezing inside of the chamber, and it would add to the pleasure he got from watching her torture through two-way mirror.

Standing back up, Emily set her hand to the glass to help herself. She could swear she heard his laughter through the mirror.

"Next question."


	2. Chapter 2

_Six days earlier_

...

"How many times," Emily growled, stealing her snack back from her friend before sitting down at her desk, "do I have to tell you not to steal my things?"

Reid shrunk into his desk chair, ignoring Derek's laughter. "I'm sorry." The older woman always had a different snack in her bottom drawer and when she took it out just after lunch the genius would ask until his face turned blue for a handful.

The dark eyed woman glared at the younger man at the desk across from her, popping a few of the jelly beans into her mouth.

Hearing her boss's voice from the catwalk, Emily did her best to sink into her seat. She and the older man had broken off their two year relationship only a month prior and after moving out of the house they shared and into her old apartment, she had been doing her best to steer clear of him.

"Slump even more, Princess."

The brunette turned and threw one of her jelly beans at the younger man. "Leave me alone."

She could hear Hotch talking to JJ as they came down the stairs, and she did her best not to eavesdrop on their conversation. It didn't matter how hard she was trying to stay away from the older man; when he was near her, Emily could almost feel herself being drawn toward him.

"Potential case," JJ spoke, noticing Emily not looking up from her computer. "Conference room in a few minutes."

Derek watched his friend slowly stand from his desk once their boss had left the bullpen. "Em?"

The brown eyed woman turned.

"Are you ok?"

Emily rolled her lips, knowing that whatever she said to her friend he knew she would be lying. The team had been there for her and Hotch throughout all their fights, but when they broke up the ambassador's daughter did her best to push them away. Breaking it off with the man you loved and his son who didn't understand why she wouldn't be over every day anymore wasn't the easiest thing to talk about. "I don't want to talk about it," she answered quietly, waiting for Derek's nod of acknowledgement before she walked up to the conference room.

Hotch sat in the farthest seat away from where he knew Emily liked to sit at the round table. Not looking up as she and the others entered the room, he gestured to JJ. "Debrief us."

"Minneapolis, Minnesota," the blonde spoke up, bringing up the abduction victims on the screen. "Three have gone missing in the last two years."

Derek's eyes widened. "Seriously? Two years? And this is our case?"

Emily did her best to listen to what JJ and Hotch were saying about their newest case, but she could feel her boss's eyes on her. Even looking down and reading over a case file, Emily was hyper aware of of the older man and how he wouldn't take his eyes off of her.

It couldn't be romantic. It didn't matter about their feelings; they had realized they both were just too stubborn and hard headed to be in a relationship.

Everything with them ended up in a fight. When Emily would get hurt in the field, Hotch would tell her how reckless she was being. The younger brunette would accuse him of being her boss even when they were home, but before they could start screaming at one another the pair would separate and spend the night in different bedrooms.

Emily didn't want to have to break it off with the older man, but after so many fights she started feeling herself falling back into the same depression she had after Doyle. She knew what was best for her now, and no matter how much she hoped, Hotch wasn't that.

"Emily?"

Her head popping up, the ambassador's daughter now not only had Hotch's eyes on her but everyone else on her team.

The Unit Chief watched as his ex calmed her expression, putting her dark hair behind her ear. "What do you think?"

Clearing her throat, the brown eyed woman shook her head, glancing back down to the file before her. "I'm not exactly sure why we're being called in," she shrugged. "Only three people have gone missing, there's no obvious connection between them, and no bodies have been found."

JJ played with the TV remote in her hand. "I told Officer Wech we'd look into it."

"Well I'm looking," Emily said, "and to me there's nothing that makes this a serial case. No MO, no connection even between abduction sites. What are we supposed to look into?"

The Unit Chief looked away from the ebony haired woman. "Tell Officer Wech we'll be out of here in thirty."

Emily's eyes met the older man. He was challenging her.

"Hotch, Emily's right. There's nothing that permits this to be a BAU case."

"I'm saying it is," Hotch said strongly, picking up his file and standing from his seat. "Be at the tarmac in twenty."

Ignoring the looks she was getting from the rest of her team, Emily picked up her file and left the conference room, practically throwing the case file down on her desk before storming out of the bullpen.

Dave sighed, following the rest of his coworkers out of the room. "They're fun these days, aren't they?" Passing his office, he opened Hotch's door and entered the office.

"I don't remember hearing you knock," the Unit Chief said as she packed his briefcase.

The older of the two shook his head. "What are you doing, Aaron?"

"I can't help it if you don't agree this is a case worth taking, Dave. My job is to find these killers and bring people back alive, not to sit around and debate."

The writer's brow raised. "We don't even know if there is a killer," he pointed out. "They've found no bodies." Not receiving an answer from his friend. Dave stepped toward his desk. "And you know damn well if Emily wasn't the one to give her opinion, you would have listened."

Hotch finally stopped his packing looking up to the agent standing on the other side of his desk. "Derek spoke in there."

"And he agreed with Emily, so you shut it down."

"You're being ridiculous," the Unit Chief almost sneered.

Dave slammed the briefcase closed, forcing Hotch to look to him. "You're not taking in anyone else's view point because you're mad about a break up. You could very well be wasting bureau funds by taking the jet all the way to Minnesota."

"And we could be sitting here while people die." Taking his briefcase and go-bag, the Unit Chief made his way to the door. "I'm doing my job, Dave. You should try and do yours as well."


End file.
